Summer at the Circus

Amy McMenamin teaches her students how to put on clown noses properly, make hot air balloons and sew a perfect puppet. She’s not an instructor at the clown academy, but instead she runs a circus-themed camp called Art at the Circus for kids at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

“My father is a clown in Wisconsin,” McMenamin said. “That’s part of why I was inspired by this theme.”

During the two and a half hour camp, McMenamin incorporates a little bit of learning time, teaching kids things like when and where circuses originated and showing them several circus-themed artwork.

But she said the camp, which is for kids from age 6-12, is structured loosely, so attendees don’t have to feel like they’re still in school.

McMenamin actually teaches the kids things they don’t learn in school.

Among those things: sewing and crafting clay.

“I’m going to use this again,” said Emma, who will be a seventh grader at Our Lady of Good Counsel, of sewing.

When asked what their favorite project was, nearly all the children responded with making the clay animals.

“We don’t have a kiln (at Our Lady of Good Counsel),” said McMenamin. “That’s why they’re so excited to do clay.”

Of the children in attendance, three were from Our Lady of Good Counsel and two were from public schools.

McMenamin is no stranger to running summer camps and after school programs. She said compared to her other programs, this one has an extremely low attendance.

“I had to cancel my morning class for the younger kids because there were only three signed up,” she said. “I invited them to join this class, but it didn’t fit in their schedules.”

McMenamin attributes the loss in attendees to families taking mid-summer vacations.

Normally, she said, each session has around 10 children enrolled.

McMenamin runs camps and after school programs independently of the school—but with permission from the principal, of course.

“A lot of kids, plus parents, want after school things,” she said.

Children that attend public schools, as well as to Our Lady of Good Counsel, can enroll in her programs, she said.

Any program she puts on runs around $25 per day so that she can buy any appropriate materials the kids need to use.

She said she’s not doing another camp this summer, but expects to do an after school program in the fall.

For more information, you can e-mail McMenamin at Amy_McMenamin@yahoo.com.